Alice in Wonderland is Bonaire's best-known double reef and the deepest of the three. The second reef only starts at around thirty metres, which keeps the dive short and makes the planning matter. Anyone who does not plan the crossing sees the outer reef for five minutes and then turns back.
Alice in Wonderland is an advanced shore dive on the south coast: an inner reef at six to ten metres and a second reef that only starts at around thirty metres and runs to forty.
The inner reef at six to ten metres is pristine and quiet, with sea fans and schools of juvenile fish. Stingrays rest on the sand flat and eagle rays pass over it. The outer reef begins around thirty metres with large sponges and black coral and drops beyond forty.
As the first dive of the day, in moderate current and good visibility. Start up-current and keep the return over the sand flat in mind.
The outer reef lies deep: dive time is short and no-decompression time is the limiting factor. In moderate current the crossing is harder than it looks. The sand flat offers few reference points. Ample unpaved parking, otherwise nothing.
Decisions on diveability, technique and health belong with STINAPA, a dive school or a doctor. This page only describes the conditions.
The name comes from the 1970s, when divers described the world beyond the sand flat as another environment. The formation belongs to the same old reef ridge as Angel City and Invisibles.
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